Weatherproof window construction



AugfZ, 1932. s. MADSEN 1,869,760

WEATHERPROOF WINDOW CONSTRUCTION Filed June 10, 1931 Patented Auvg. 2, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SERN MADSEN, F CLINTON, IOWA, ASSIGNOR TO CURTIS COMPANIES, INCORPORATED, OF CLINTON, IOWA, A CORPORATION OE IOWA WEATHERPROOF WINDOW CONSTRUCTION Application led June 10,

The object of my invention is to provide a very simple and efficient construction for providing weatherproof windows.

More particularly, it is my object to provide a. weatherproof construction including a grooved jamb, a peculiarly grooved sash and what may be called a resilient double leaf double contact weatherstrip.

Another purpose is to provide such a construction that will allow for some lateral shrinkage or movement of the sash relative to the window frame and also allow some inand-out movement of thel sash between the stops without interferino` with the. maintenance of weatherproof Joints and without allowing rattling.

Still another purpose of the present inventionris to provide' a weatherproof con-A struct-ion of the kind mentioned by which there may be obtained a predetermined amount of fric'tional resistanceto the sliding movement of the sash to accommodate and compensate forl slight variations in the sash balance whether of the spring or weight and cord type. y p

IVith t-hese and other objects in view, myv invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of the various parts of my weatherproof window construc- 3o tion, whereby the objects contemplated are attained, as hereinafter more fully set fort-h, pointed out in my claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view partly in section with parts broken away of a part ot a side `iamb and one corner of a window sash equipped with a weatherstrip, the whole structure illustratingr my invention.v

Figure 2 is a horizontal, detail, sectional O view illustrating the window frame and sash,

the weatherstrip structure and a` spring sashA balance arrangement.

Figure 3 is a sectionahperspective view of a section of weatherstrip partly broken 113 away.

Figure 4 is a small, horizontal sectional vien-Y showing a portion of a sash and a portion ofthe side jambf of a slightly modified form ofthe invention.

.zo Figure v5 is a vertical sectional view of 1931. Serial No. 543,305.

casings 11 and 12, the blind stop 13, the parting stop 14 and the inside stop 15. At 16 and 17, I have indicated generally the lower and upper sash of an ordmary double hung slidin sash window. t

y improvedconstruction may be used with windows of the kind hung with weights and ropes 4and pulleys, but I prefer to use it with sash that are spring supported. I have therefore illustrated the window structure in the drawing with the supporting coil springs 18.

It will, of course, be understood that the springs 18 are secured at their lower ends to the window sash and at their upper ends to e the. jamb 10. They may be secured at various heightssonl the jamb and may be fastened detachably or otherwise in any suitable way at their lower ends to the sash.

.Where springs are used for sash balance purposes, it is important to control the movement of the sash.

I have provided means whereby this resistance or movement of the'sash can be secured an'd maintained while permitting a rather free iloating movement of the sash between the stops and providing for limited lateral play between the sash and side'jambs. All of this I have obtained by my construction while maintaining a weathertight joint.

For providing these advantages, the side jambs 10 are provided with opposite grooves 19. Each side jamb has in its face adjacent to the window sash one such groove for each sash extending the full length of that portion of the side' j amb engaged bythe sash, to-wit,

from head jamb to sill. This groove 19 may be provided with a channel-shaped metal lining 20, as shown for instance in Figure 1, or the lining may be omitted as shown in Figures 2 and 4 under some circumstances, The lining must terminate at least flush with the facey of the jamb. y 1,00

Each sash stile 21 and the adjacent ends of the top rail and base rail of each sash are provided with a groove 22 extending lengthwise the full length of the sash and arranged to travel opposite a corresponding groove 19.

In the mouth of the groove 22 is a wide' oove 23. (Figure 1.) A weather strip, indicated generally at A, (Fig. 3) has an anchoring portion 24 designed to be inserted into the groove 22, as shown for instance in IFigures 1, 2 and 4.

'over against the other, as shown best in Figure 3.

JThe metal is then bent in opposite directions away from the anchor portion 24 to form a channel-like portion having a base formed of the parts 25 extending away from the anchor portion 24, and the sides 26.

Preferably the sides 26 are inclined from the base 25 somewhat toward each other for about half the width of the sides and are then inclined away from each other as indicated respectively at 26a and 26?). I am referring now to the normal shape of the weatherstrip.

The outer edges of the sides 26 may be rolled as at 27.

In Figures 2 and 4, I have shown a slightly different form.

The parts are preferably so arranged that the sides 26 snugly fit between the faces of the groove 23 adjacent to the base members 25 and the portions 26?) of the sides 26 proj ectl from the groove 23. Thus the portlons of the sides 26 which are spread farthest from each other engage the walls of the channel lining 20 or the opposite walls of the groove 19, as the case may be.

The structure being a factory product, the tension of the two sides 26, which for convenience I call the resilient leaves of the weather strip can be accurately determined and regulated. Thus they can be given such tension when shoved.l into the groove; 19 as may be desired.

On account of the peculiar construction of the sides 26, it will be seen that the sash can be hung to float as it were between the stops. The sash can have a little in-and-out play between the stops. This play is limited by the Weather strip, but alittle of it is permitted by reason of the inclination of the parts 26a toward each other and of the parts 2Gb of each weatherstrip away from each other.

In Figure 4, I have illustrated how this play may occur and have shown the sash 16 moved a little away from where the grooves 23 and 19 truly register. Such play, it iS seen, may be permitted to somel extent without interfering with the Weathertight joint and without destroying the friction-al resistance between the weatherstrip and the window jamb. i

On account of the fact that it is extremely diflicult to hang the window sash with exact accuracy, the provision of a little such play is desirable. For instance, where sash are spring hung as illust-rated, it becomes quite important to not have any binding other than that provided for by the'resiliency of the weatherstrip. e l

If Windows are installed snugly between the stops, then it is obvious in wet weather, windows are likely to bind. It is therefore desirable to install sash with a slight looseness weatherstrips are used Without interfering with the tight joint and without any danger of rattling.

The sides 26 can slide-in the grooves 19. rl`his allows -a loose enough installation of the sash to prevent binding in Wet Weather.

It is, of course, obvious that with the structure explained, if the window installation is originally tight and the parts of the Window dry outl and shrink, weathe-rtight joints will still be maintained by the weatherstrip and the shrunken sash will be prevented from rattling.

Another and quite important feature of the present invention lies in the fact that there are two distinct contacts or lines of weathertight joint.

Each of the side members 26?) engage a Wall of the groove 19 or of its lining and thus there is a double engagement of the resilient leaves or sides of the weatherstrip forpreventing passage of yair around the sash.

The anchor portion 24 may be so made as to cause it to resiliently grip the 'walls of the groove 22. The weatherstrip can thus be held in place temporarily during installation.

To insure positive fastening of the weatherstrip, the anchor portion 241is provided with holes 28 to receive screws 29 inserted in the stiles or rails of the sash.

To prevent up-and-down leakage of air, the sides 26 are extended a little above and below Ithe anchor portion 24, and are bent to overlapping position as indicated at 30 and 31 for closing the upper and lower ends of the weatherstrip.

The advantages of such a structure are largely seen from the foregoing explanation.

There is another advantage in the possibility of mounting the sash for a little in-and- Unless some provision out floating movement. If the window is providedat the top and bottom with the ordinary rib and groove weatherstrips, it is obvious that they vary slightly, and if the effect of their proper coaction is to swing the sash just a little inwardly or outwardly, such movement of the sash is freely permitted without interfering with the weatherstrip arrangement.

In Figure 5, I have shown the sill 32 provided with a ribbed weatherstrip 33'and the sash 17' provided with a groove 34 for illustrating the construction just explained.

Another advantage of the construction here shown arises from the fact that the pressure of the resilient leaves of the weatherstrip is perpendicular to the plane 1n which the sash travels. This pressure will remain the same regardless of any expansion or shrinking of the sash and where ametal liner is used for the jamb groove, regardless of any shrinking or expansion of the jamb.

The sash is loosely mounted in the frame in such manner as to avoid any substantial friction between sash and frame. The weatherstrip thus serves to hold the sash in its proper position against in and out movement and against sidewise and practically the only friction involved in sliding the sash is that between the weatherstrip and the jamb. This is what I call free'fioating movement.

With such an arrangement, it is possible to provide a spring for balancing the sash `and to accurately control the friction between sash and frame. This solves one of the big problems in building windows.

lVith wood frame and wood sash construction.v it is difficult to use springs for balancing the sash because the swell and shrink of the material sometimes causes the parts to unduly bind and sometimes results in too little friction and sometimes permits them torattle and allows too much flow of air around the sash. With my construction all of these difficulties are eliminated.

I design the spring to'actually balance the sash in its position at the middle of its sliding movement. The spring is designed to give minimum variation in decrease or increase of tension as the sash moves up or down. The amount of unavoidable under balance or overbalance of the sash withrelation to the spring as the sash moves up or down from its midway position is compensated for by means of friction `imposed between the sash and frame.y By the structurey herein provided, this friction may be lmade definite. and constant and' may be accurately predetermined'. y

I provide a weatherstrip calibrated to have n a uniform friction, per unit of length. This always slightly exceedsthe amount of unil as the sash. Such a result could not be obtained if the weatherstrip projected from the jamb into the sash and did not extend the full length of the window, as is sometimes the case. l

The same springs can be used for sash of different length because such sash have longer weatherstrip units and thus there will be afforded greater friction when the spring is l extended to greater length.

The weatherstrip not only affords accurately controlled friction between sash and frame necessary when springs are used for counterbalancing the sash, but also affords proper weathersealed joints. These are especially necessary where there is no binding between the sashand the frame.

It will be noted that such a type ofbweatherstrip with the constant accurate determination of friction between sash and jamb has an advantage if used with the ordinary Weight and pulley sash balance.

Heretofore. tlie're have been made weatherstrip installations in which grooves have been used for the insertion of weatherstrip elements. Likewise resilient leaf devices have been used, but so far as I am aware none have been used which are like the present device in structure. Furthermore so far as I am aware, none of the previous devices have been constructed so that the coaction of the resilient weatherstrip element with either the frame or the sash constituted practically the only means of frictional contact so as to make possible the accurate control and maintenance of a predetermined amount of friction.

In all previous devices of which I have any knowledge, there was some friction of wood or metal on wood and that friction would vary depending upon the swell and shrink of the wood.

It is, of course, obvious that some changes might be made in the details of the construe'- tion and arrangement of the parts of my inL vent-ion without departing from the principal features and purposes thereof, and I desire tocover by the patent to be issued upon my application any modifications in structure or use of mechanical equivalents which may' be properly included within the scope of my invention and ofmy claims.

I claim as my invention:

l. In a weatherproof window structure, a"

Window 'sash' having grooves in its stiles with wider portions at their outer parts, the window frame having side ,jambs provided with grooves, weather strips with anchoring portions received in the inner parts of the grooves in the stiles and with spaced resilient leaves in the wider portions of the grooves in the Stiles and projecting therefrom. into the grooves in the jambs and bearing resiliently against the walls of said latter grooves.

2. Inl a Weatherproof window structure, a window sash having grooves in its Stiles with wider portions at their outer parts, the window frame having side jambs provided with grooves, weather strips with anchoring por- .tions received in the inner parts of the grooves in the stiles and with spaced resilient leaves in the wider portions of the grooves in the Stiles and projecting therefrom into the grooves in the jambs and bearing reslhently against the walls of said latter grooves, said jamb grooves being provided with metal lining for engaging the` leaves. 0

3. In a weatherproof window structure, a window sash having grooves in its stiles with wider portions at their outer parts, the window frame-having side jambs provided with grooves, weather strips with anchoring portions received in the inner parts of the grooves in the stiles and with spaced resilient leaves in the wider portions of the grooves in the stiles and projecting therefrom into the grooves in the jambs and bearing resiliently against the walls of said latt-er grooves, said leaves being spaced from the walls of the wider portions of the grooves in the stiles, except adjacent to the narrow grooves in the stiles to permit some lateral movement of the sash with relation to the jamb.

4. In a weatherproof window construction, the combination of a frame having side jambs provided with vertical grooves and a sashA having stiles provided with vertical grooves in their faces, and having narrower grooves at the bottoms of the first grooves, with weatherstrips each having an anchoring portion received in the inner grooves of a stile and channel-shaped portions projecting from the anchoring portion and provided'with side walls inclined from the bases of such channel portions slightly toward each other and thence away from each other, the latter inclined portions being projected from the grooves in the stiles and into the grooves in the jambs for forming resilient leaves engaging the opposite walls of the amb grooves. 5. A weatherstrip formed of a single strip of sheet metal folded along a median line to form a double thickness anchor section, the metal then being bent in opposite directions away from said section to form the base of a channel and thence away from said base to form channel walls, the walls being slightly inclined toward each other for a portion of the width thereof and thence slightly away from each other.

6. A weatherstrip formed of a single stri-p of sheet metal folded along a median line to form a double thickness anchor section, the metal then b'eing bent in opposite directions away from said section to form the base of a channel and thence away from said base to form channel walls, the walls being slightly inclined toward each other for a portion of the width thereof and thence slightly away from each other, and being formed with conveX surfaces near their outer edges.

7. A, weatherstrip for sealing the oints between two window members formed of resilient sheet metal folded lengthwise to form a rib-like anchoring portion and then folded to form right-angled offset portions, comprising the base of a channel, and then folded to form channel `walls comprising two resilient leaves extending from the offsets and having converging and then diverging slopes.

8. A weatherstrip for sealing the joints between two window members formed of resilient sheet metal folded lengthwise to form a rib-like anchoring portion and then folded to form right-angled offset portions, comprising the base of a channel, and then folded to form channel walls comprising two resilient leaves extending from the offsets and having converging and then diverging slopes, and having at their outer parts outside con- Vex surfaces designed for sliding contact with one window member when the rib portion is attached to another coacting window member. I

9. A weatherstrip for use between two window members formed of resilient metal folded lengthwise to form an anchor portion for attachment to one window member and then folded to form spaced leaves substantially parallel with each other having resilient sliding contact with appropriate faces of a second window member.

10. In a window construction. a frame element, a sash element vertically slidable therein, spring means tending to balance the sash at an intermediate point in its vertical movement, said elements having at each side coacting guide and engaging means comprising spaced substantially parallel vertical faces and spaced members for yieldingly engaging said faces for frictionally resisting vertical sliding movement of the sash and permitting limited movement of the sash between the sides of the frame and allowing in and out movement of the sash, said members being in engagement with said faces for the full height of the sash during the full travel thereof whereby the sash will be held in any position of vertical adjustment when not balanced by the spring means.

11. In a window structure, a frame having stops, and vertical grooves, a vertically slidable sash mounted for limited movement between the sides of the frame and in and out movement between the stops, spring means to yieldingly substantially balance the sash at an intermediate point in its vertical movement, devices carried bythe sash each having spaced leaves co-extensive with the height of the sash and bearing. resiliently against the side walls of a groove for providing uniform friction to hold the sash in any position of vertical adjustment when not balanced by the spring means and to permit horizontal lateral and in and out floating of the sash and for serving as a Weather seal.

12. In a window construction, a frame element, a sash element vertically slidable therein, said elements having at each side coacting guide and engaging means comprising spaced substantially parallel vertical faces and spaced members for yieldingly engaging said faces for frictionally resisting vertical sliding movement of the sash and permitting limited movement of the sash between the sides of the frame and allowing in and out movement of the sash, said members being in engagement with said faces for the full height of the sash during the full travel thereof whereby the sash Will be held in any position of vertical adjustment.

13. In a window construction, a frame element, a sash element vertically slidable therein, spring means tending to balance the sash at an intermediate point in its vertical movement, said elements having at-each side coacting guide and engaging means comprising spaced substantially parallel vertical faces and spaced members for yieldingly engaging said faces for frictionally resisting vertical sliding movement of the sash and permitting limited movement of the sash between the sides of the frame, whereby the sash will be held in any position of vertical adjustment when not balanced by the spring means.

14. In a window construction, a frame element, a sash element vertically slidable therein, spring means tending to balance the sash at an intermediate point in its vertical movement, said elements having at each side coacting guide and engaging means comprising spaced substantially parallel vertical faces 'and spaced members for yieldingly engaging said faces for frictionally resisting vertical slidin movement of the sash and permitting limite movement of the sash between the sides of the frame, said members being in engagement with said faces for the full height of the sash during the full travel thereof whereby the sash will be held in any position of vertical adjustment when not balanced by the spring'means.

15. In a window construction, a frame element, a sash element, vertically slidable therein, said elements having at each side coacting guide and engaging means comprising spaced substantially parallel vertical faces and spaced members for yieldingly engaging said faces for allowing vertical sliding movement seal.

SERN MADSEN.

DISCLAIMER Putvnt dzmfd August, 2, 1932. Disclaimer mcd Muy 1S. 12H12.` by the :LS- sgme, Curtis Cmnpum'efs lm'nrporaml.

Hornby discnvims claims 9, 1U. 11, 12, 1?, 14, mid 15 of Suid 15:111-125.

{Ulf/Mll (rY'I-St/l fU/u? 16, 1.9/2.1 

